


swim like sinking ships

by illouminatehaz



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, ahhhhhhh, all larry, he'll love it for sure, i can't wait to show my shrink this, i wrote this while i was jammin, poor!louis, slight panic disorder!louis, this was complete fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2014-05-28
Packaged: 2018-01-26 22:42:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1705217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illouminatehaz/pseuds/illouminatehaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>“Lou’s got a boyfriend, Lou’s got a boyfriend!” Niall shouted out, bothering the customers seated at cozy tables or booths around the room. They looked at him, giving him dirty looks for being so obnoxious in the quiet café.</em><br/> <br/><em>“Shut the fuck up, Niall, you bloody tosser!” Louis whisper-shouted, whacking Niall upside the head for his extremely loud exclamation. The blond haired boy laughed loudly and backed away from the counter, avoiding Louis’ waving hands trying to smack him. </em></p><p>Or, the one in where Louis meets Harry in a café, their best friends Liam, Niall, and Zayn are just waiting for them to get together and Louis' never believed in love at first sight but this is some pretty real shit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	swim like sinking ships

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is my second fic, sorry if it's shit but I tried. This is a work in progress; I've lost a lot of motivation so I haven't been writing much. My tumblr is ilouminatehaz if you want to check it out. 
> 
> Edit: I have literally almost no motivation to ever finish this. Sorry everyone. 
> 
> Edit: I'm American, is that surprising?

Have you ever met that one person who can make you go light and fuzzy, make you want to be their person? And by person you mean their  _other_ , the one they lean on, depend on. It’s an amazing feeling, unlike any other, to see that one person that you know will eventually hold every piece of your heart in their hands.

Louis Tomlinson remembers the day he met his person. It was a rainy day, that he knew, and he trotted through the rain towards a local coffee shop that he favorited. As he fluidly moved over the small puddles gathering on the pavement he reached the mat in front of the entrance, pulling down the hood on his favorite jacket, wiping his feet and stepping inside. The bell on the door chimed, letting the worker on shift know that there was a new customer in the building.

Walking up to the counter Louis looked up, seeing someone other than his friend. No, this was not the boy with short blond hair and brown roots showing, this was a boy with chocolate curls and green eyes the color of the forest staring back at him and right into his soul. He had on an olive colored jumper underneath his black work apron and Louis couldn’t see anything for the counter being in the way.

Stuttering slightly, he mumbled, “Hi, I’d like a cup of Yorkshire tea, please,” and shot a look around the boy towards the back, looking for Niall, his blond haired friend that normally worked around this time.

“Hey mate, do you know if Niall’s working tonight?” Louis asked the boy, reading his name tag. Harry, he thought, fitting.

Harry looked up, startled from making Louis’ tea, and shook his head. “No, I don’t know who that is, sorry.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I was just curious,” Louis replied, looking down at the boy’s hands, shaking at they tried to stir the elder’s drink.

The elder of the two (you could tell that Louis was older, even though he was shorter than Harry) received his cuppa from the boy with a “thank you” and he sent him a smile, moving towards a booth in the back, tucked into the corner by the restrooms. As he slid onto the seat towards the wall he saw Harry come out from behind the counter, finally seeing that the boy had on black skin-tight jeans that were practically painted on.

Louis watched as the younger boy wiped down the tables, occasionally glancing out the front window of the shop to watch the rain pour down. Harry looked up, feeling the elder’s stare and catching his eye, winking and shooting him a sly smirk. Louis nearly choked on his tea, eyes watering and cheeks flushing hastily. Green eyes shone across the room as Harry walked over to the booth where Louis was seated and sat down opposite the older boy.

“What’s your name?”

“Louis.”

Harry smiled.

“Sorry to ruin your evening, but I must be going,” Louis said, giving the younger boy a shy smile and getting up, pulling his messenger bag higher up on his shoulder and disposing of his cup in the bin. He was almost out of the door when Harry spoke.

“Wait,” he said, standing up and spinning around towards Louis, “can I get your number?”

Both of them could feel their cheeks flush, one with anticipation at the answer to his question and the other with shock at the courage of the other boy.

“Sure,” he replied, stepping back into the shop and treading over to the younger of the two. He slipped his hand into his bag and ripped the corner off of a piece of notebook paper, scrambling for a pen to write down his number. Harry checked his pockets and quickly handed Louis his pen, the elder smiling gratefully and leaning over the table to jot down his digits and hand Harry back the paper and pen.

“Thanks,” he shyly replied, glancing down at the paper in his hand as Louis stepped out of the shop, looking back once and smiling before pulling up his hood and trotting down the street towards home.

➸

That night as both boys laid in their beds, they thought about the other, and what the days following would bring. Little did they know that what was in store for them would change the rest of their lives.

➸

As he walked into the shop, Louis heard the bell over the door chime and looked up, seeing the familiar blond haired boy at the register. Niall looked up, eyes widening and a grin sliding onto his face as he saw Louis just inside the doorway.

“Lou!” he called, looking like he was going to lunge over the counter at the older boy.

Louis laughed, shuffling over to the counter and greeting Niall with a hug which was returned from the younger boy with a lot more enthusiasm. Pulling back, he chuckled as he saw Niall’s face, eyes bright and cheeks flushed from being excited.

“How are ya, mate? Haven’t seen ya in forever!” Niall exclaimed, shaking Louis’ shoulders and pulling back so that he was finally on the right side of the counter.

Louis hummed, smiling lightly as he thought about the day before. “I’m good, Niall. And yourself?”

Niall nodded, “I’ve been good, been out a couple times with Zayn for some pints.”

“Oh, fun. How’s Zayn been? I haven’t talked to him in a couple days,” Louis wondered, slipping his hand into the messenger bag that went everywhere with him in search of his phone. Finally finding it, he touched the screen and brought it to life, seeing a few new texts from Zayn and,  _oh_ , Harry. He quickly slipped his phone back into his bag, realizing that Niall was blabbering on about some footie match the day before.

“And he went up for a penalty kick, four seconds left in the game, and guess what Lou, he made it!” Niall said, jumping around behind the counter and tugging on the apron tied around his waist. Louis chuckled, shaking his head lightly in adoration because how adorable could he be?

“That’s great, Niall. Can I get my usual, please?” he asked, digging out the money for the drink and wondering if he should tell Niall about Harry. Niall nodded and went ahead to start making Louis his tea, looking back up at the older boy.

“You know you never have to pay, Lou, so put the money away,” the blond boy said, shooting Louis a concerned look because Louis never paid for his drink, so why did he start now?

Louis blushed and shoved the money back in his back, looking down at his beat up TOMS and mumbling a “sorry, forgot” to the blond haired boy. He decided he would tell Niall about Harry since he and Zayn are always bugging him about finding someone.

“Hey Ni, can I tell you something?” Louis asked, glancing up at him. He nodded, gesturing for the elder to continue. “Well, I um, I met this guy, right?”

Niall’s eyes widened and his head shot up to look at Louis, staring at him until the boy lifted his head to look up. He opened his mouth, a silent scream coming out as he started to jump around in glee.

"Lou’s got a boyfriend, Lou’s got a boyfriend!” Niall shouted out, bothering the customers seated at cozy tables or booths around the room. They looked at him, giving him dirty looks for being so obnoxious in the quiet café.

“Shut the fuck up, Niall, you bloody tosser!” Louis whisper-shouted, whacking Niall upside the head for his extremely loud exclamation. The blond haired boy laughed loudly and backed away from the counter, avoiding Louis’ waving hands trying to smack him.

“What’s his name, huh?” he asked loudly, receiving a glare from the older boy.

Looking down at his shoes, Louis mumbled, “Harry.”

“Aw, that’s so cute!” Niall squeaked, laughing hard and holding his sides as the older boy swatted at him.

“Get back to work, or I’ll make your manager fire you!” he muttered under his breath, grabbing his cup of tea and moving to the same booth in the back by the restrooms. Niall chuckled and looked out the front window, grabbing a towel to wipe down the newly vacated tables. Sipping on his hot drink, he pulled his phone out of his bag and pulled up the texts from his friends.

23:26 from Zaynie:  _ey mate, u up for party?_  
23:59 from Zaynie:  _lou you fucker text me back_

The first two texts he received were yesterday from Zayn, the bugger. He didn’t have time for a party because he was already at home in bed, dreaming about the boy with chocolate curls and forest green eyes. Going back to his inbox, he tapped on the screen to read the next messages.

9:32 from Zaynie:  _fuck lou m hungover n i need a ride, hmu?_

Fuck, he didn’t want to go get Zayn, but he knew that hungover Zayn, no, Zayn was  _always_  a force to be reckoned with. Sighing, he mumbled a “Ni, gotta go” and slid to the opening of the booth.

Niall looked up, surprised, “Okay, Lou, when will I see ya?”

As soon as he pulled out his phone to check his calendar his phone vibrated, showing a new text. Shooting Niall a confused look, he opened the message and immediately a rosy tint came to his cheeks.

9:47 from unknown:  _morning louis, hope youre having a good day so far -harry xx_

Niall walked over and went to look over his shoulder, but Louis jolted backwards and hit his butt on the table behind him.

“Was that from Harry?” Niall asked with a sly smirk. Louis blushed harder and nodded lightly, looking down at his shoes and saving Harry’s number in his phone before slipping it back into his bag.

Louis gulped, feeling cornered, and shyly looked up at Niall.

“Look, Lou, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine, Niall, don’t worry about it.”

Niall sighed and stepped back, picking up the rag he was using to wipe tables.

“Well, I’ll be going," Louis said, trying not to stutter, “gotta go pick up Zayn, the lazy fucker.”

Niall chuckled, “Of course, he’s probably getting ready for his next runway show.”

They both had a good laugh at that, mocking Zayn’s italian model-like qualities.

Running his fingers through his fringe, Louis gave Niall a grin, shooting him an “I’ll see you tomorrow” and a “love you” before stepping out of the shop. Niall watched him go, shaking his head and pausing for a moment before leaning back down to continue wiping tables.

As soon as he finished wiping another table, the bell above the door chimed and in came a boy who looked maybe a year younger than Niall. The boy smiled and slipped past him to the back of the store, most likely to put on his apron before his shift. Looking at the clock, the blond-haired boy jolted in surprise, finding that his shift was over fifteen minutes ago.

He set the rag down somewhere behind the counter and shuffled back into the break room of the small coffee shop. Tugging lightly on the string keeping the knot in place, Niall pulled off his apron and opened up his locker, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the boy with brown curls.

Deciding to step up, he turned, startling the younger boy. He held out his right hand for a handshake, sending his a fine Irish grin with eyes twinkling.

“Hello, I’m Niall Horan.”

“And I’m Harry Styles,” the boy replied.

Niall’s eyes widened in surprise but he managed to keep his cool, slipping on his most face-cracking grin for the lad that stole his mate’s heart.

“Nice to meet you. I guess I’ll be seeing you around,” Niall said, pulling his hand back.

“Yeah, guess so.”

Pulling his backpack out of his locker, he shut it and walked over to the door, looking back once and smiling at the lad before stepping out of the break room and soon out of the shop.

 _God_ , he thought,  _Lou’s in for it._

➼

21:52 from Hazza: _your bum is really cute by the way_

Louis could barely contain his giggle, gripping his phone tightly and wiggling his legs in the air in glee before proceeding to text Harry back.

21:53 to Hazza: _you're one to talk mr skin tight jeans_

Slyly smirking, Louis got up from his bed and walked out of his room, heading toward the kitchen to get himself a cup of tea.

After he left the café to pick up Zayn, he had gotten into his car and drove over to the address the raven-haired boy texted him, picked him up and proceeded to tell him all about his encounter with Harry and the reunion with Niall. Zayn had taken all the new information at face value and thought about it, pushing the two into a moment of silence.

"So now what?" Zayn had asked, glancing at his phone before looking over at Louis.

"I don't know, what do you think I should do?" he said.

Looking up at the roof of the car, Zayn pondered over the question. "I think you should keep talking to him and see what happens. You never know, it could turn into something."

He nodded. "I get what you're saying, and I agree." Louis smiled and glanced over at his best friend before looking back at the road and driving him the rest of the way home.

Now, two days later, he found himself talking to Harry constantly; the biggest thing to show that being the time of day and the barrage of messages from the younger boy. After all, there were only 674 messages shared in two days, not that that was that many. (Oh, who was he kidding? That was a whole fucking lot of text messages.)

Louis really enjoyed talking to Harry. He made him happy, and when you take into consideration that fact that he was poor and had really bad anxiety, that meant he was doing pretty well.

Stirring his tea, he picked up the cup and walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa to watch The Lion King. (It was always his favorite movie as a kid, besides Grease, despite the fact that Mufasa dies.) (And it's not like he was actually going to watch it, anyway, because he was texting Harry.)

Turning on the TV, he felt his phone vibrate and checked the message.

21:57 from Hazza: _oh shut up you bugger_

Chuckling lightly, Louis turned on the movie and shut off the lights, loving the darkness of the room. He was almost through the opening song when his phone buzzed again.

22:02 from Hazza: _boo please text back I didn't mean to offend you_

Smiling, he started typing a message in reply.

22:02 to Hazza: _you didn't offend me love im watching the lion king_ Louis focused on the movie until he felt his phone vibrate.

22:03 from Hazza: _thank god i thought id scared you away_

He grinned.

22:04 to Hazza: _no, im right here, what r u doing?_

It was only seconds later that he got a reply.

22:04 from Hazza: _literally nothing besides talking to you_

He wasn't even paying attention to the movie anymore, which was what he knew would happen in the first place.

22:06 to Hazza: _thats boring do something fun_

Chuckling, Louis glanced up at the screen quickly before staring at him phone, waiting for a reply, which he soon got.

22:07 from Hazza: _i am doing something fun, im talking to you_

Audibly awwing, he felt his cheeks heat up and he put his hands over his face, giggling happily.

If the two of them flirting was the way this was going to go, then he was completely fine with that.

➼

(Preview, work in progress)

 


End file.
